"Whoa...did you see that?" Nicole whispered to her brothers as they watched the battle quickly come to an end, "He took down Ilima's Yungoose in less then a minute..." She continued in awe, amazed that Pikachu had been so quick to defeat a pokemon that Ilima had been training for many years.
"I liked it how Ash used Pikachu's Iron Tail...very creative..." Darwin replied softly after a few minutes of staring at the battlefield, nodding softly in an impressed way - which made Ash roll his eyes once more. The three had been present when he had battled Morrison, why were they so surprised by his pokemon's strength?
"That was impressive - its clear that i am not to underestimate you young man" Ash heard Ilima say as he recalled his fallen pokemon, a smile on his face - Ash just shrugged, he didn't care if people underestimated or overestimated his strength. He knew he was a decent battler before he made the island his home, and he knew that all his training on the island would eventually lead him to being a lot stronger and tougher to beat.
"Let's see how you do againest my next partner!" Ilima interrupted Ash's thoughts loudly, making Ash grunt at how loud the young captain was - it was downright irritating in Ash's mind. He sure as hell hoped that the battle would go by fast so he could leave the presence of Ilima. Whether Ilima knew about Ash's thought was unclear, but the boy bore a large grin as he threw his second poke'ball into the air, revealing a version of Persian that Ash had never seen before.
"Is that...a Persian?" Ash spoke slowly, his voice clearly fully of confusion, "Of course it's a Persian! And she's one of my strongest pokemon so you better be careful!" Ilima stated proudly, watching as Ash shrugged, making a mental note to ask the others about the strange looking pokemon later, "Pikachu - return" Pikachu nodded as the other's all looked on in confusion - the electric pokemon has taken literally no damage from the battle with Yungoose, so why was he returning him?
Ash didn't tell the others why he recalled Pikachu. In all honesty it was none of their business, and he didn't care enough to tell them, "Come forth" Ash started as he threw his poke'ball lazily into the air, a bored look on his face as Heracross appeared to the field, slamming his feet on the ground as he landed, his wings tucking themselves back inside his back.
"Hm, a Heracross" Ilima said with a smirk, "This won't be easy but let's show them the glory of Alola! Start things off with Screech!" The dark grey colored Persian smirked as she sat down, taking a deep breath before letting out a high pitched screech, forcing Nicole and her brothers top cover their ears from the high-pitchness of the screech.
Ilima - who was use to the sound of his pokemon's attack - gaped in surprise when Ash and Heracross just smirked at him, clearly unaffected by the high-pitched screech, "Brick Break" Ash instructed calmly, watching as his Heracross's wings reappeared as he flew through the sound waves that ecohed around the room, both his arms glowing brightly.
"Meet it with your Slash!" Persian reacted quickly, shutting her mouth and lunging forward swiping her glowing claws as Heracross brought his arms down. The two attacks collided, sending shock waves throughout the cavern as the two pokemon fought for control. In the end, both pokemon recoiled back, Persian skidding back towards Ilima and Heracross flying backwards towards Ash.
"Hm." Ash raised a brow as both pokemon skidded/flew back towards their respected trainers, making another mental note to do some special power training with Heracross at some point.
"Don't let up Persian! Use Icy Wind!" Ash raised a brow at the ice type move, watching as Ilima's Persian took a deep breath before shooting the cold blue colored wind towards his bug/fighting pokemon, "Fly over - follow with Brick Blast" Heracross smirked as he easily flew over the cold wind, that blew straight past him and Ash, hitting the triplets, who shivers, rubbing their arms form the unexpected coldness and confused looked on their faces at the attack name, "Brick blast?" Nicole voiced her confusion, looking at her brothers, who just shrugged. They didn't know of the attack either.
"Hera!" Heracross shouted as he lowered his arms, a rock beginning to form between the small palms on his hands. Raising his left arm that powered the floating rock, Heracross flung the arm forward whilst simultaneously bringing his bright shining right arm down, crushing the boulders as they left his hand and turning them into sharp sparks, which hurled towards Persian at lightning speed, "Shit...Dodge Persian!" Ilima cursed, calling out to his Persian who quickly began leaping around, but she wasn't fast enough to dodge all the incoming sharply shaped rocks, "Persian!" She cried as the sharp rocks pierced her skin, skidding back into a rock, leaving a small dent in said rock as she pushed herself up and shook the dirt from her coat.
"Per..." Persian growled as she turned to lick the wounds on her body, "Thats enough" Ilima suddenly stated, watching as Ash looked at him with a raised brow, "Persian is not fit to keep battling, plus i can tell tha you are ready to face the totem pokemon" Ash shrugged - he didn't show it, but he was thankful that Ilima had called the battle to a quick end. As much as he hated people, he didn't like hurting pokemon unnecessarily, and battling Ilima's third pokemon would be doing just that.
"Return Persian" Ilima stated as he held that dark pokemon's poke'ball up, watching as she disappeared in a flash of red light before pocketing the poke'ball, turning to face Ash and the other's and walking over to them with a smile, "You are indeed a strong and worthy opponent young man," Ash just nodded as he recalled Heracross, who was smiling victoriously at having won the battle.
"Follow me and i will lead you to the totem pokemon" Ash just nodded, following Ilima deeper into the cavern. The other's following swiftly behind, with the exception of Max, who hung back slightly so as not to be seen.